New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-17
DECAYING KNIGHTS or LABOR.
TEE ORDER GRADUALLY BECOMING A BURDEN y



ITS MEMBERS.
PHILADELPHIA. July 16.-The fact can no longer
be concealed that the organisation of the Knights OF
Labor IL going down with appalling rapidity. A
SCORE of assemblies are lapsing every week, whole
GRATIS threatening to withdraw altogether, and
no corresponding additions to the membership are
gained to make up tho osses The rank and file of the
order seem to have become supremely Indifferent ~ to
whether 1t prospers not and under these cir
cunt tances 1t 10 not surprising that, with Oil the
forces Of employers and capitalists arrayed against
them the Knights of Labor should be losing ground.
1t 10 safe to say that the psidup membership of the
order Is not half large it was ono year ago
Tho diss~tisfaction with tho present condition OF
things extends sll the country and Is nowhere
plainly manifested than Ia this city, the head
quarters we'll the cradle of the organization.
One would suppose that for this the order here
should be in higher state Of perfection and dis
cipne than elsewhere, but such is not the case. On
the contrary, the process of dsintegraon has made
its I'M pads right here in the centre of the
organization. The members supremely Indifferent
to the welfare of their organization. They do not
attend the assembly meetings They do not ray their
duos They do not enforce boycotts they urged
to do. They do not respond to appeals tor financial
aid They do not obey the mandates of their general
officers, and what is worse than all for them, they
cannot be awakened from the deep sumber OF inuler
once into which they have fallen. The causes which
have Iod to this deporable state of affairs not far
TO seek First the Knights Of Labor have exhausted
themselves aid impoverished their treasures through
their inn umerabe strikes and labor dssensous They
have suffered defeat in almost every recent fight
which they have waged against their employers, and
consequently they have como to place little conf
denoe in the advantages and capabilities OF their
organization. Besides this, and notably since the
Richmond General Assembly, a deprecated couvic-
ton hes entered the minds OF the thinking members
OF the order that the management OF affairs is OF ct
all such as it should be. These thinking members
say that the general officers running things for
their benefit and not TOR the good OF the order at
large They alude with shame to the fact that their
officers centre their individual attention upon plans
for reelection and selfaggrandizement and not
upon labor interests. knights who have visited the
general adquarters here have invariably gone away
Invested of that and reverence for the members
Of the General Executive Board which their single
minded brothers in the provincial districts 30
proud to cherish Only the other afternoon visiting
delegate scandalized to see three prominent mem
bers OF the General Executive Board enjoying them
selves leisurely in watching baseball game. Turn
ing to Q local labor leader. the visitor asked
" Is this what we pay our general officers SO day
for when there is much work TO be done p
Eyes," answered his friend, :" that's what We pay
them tor but + oS lived here and saw more OF their
now. You are mistaken If you imagine our general
officers workngmen now"
The remarkable Indifference everywhere In the
order, matters which vitality ctncern the inter
ests Of the members, 10 shown emphatic lily in the
statement which from the general headquarters
that not halt the number of local assemblies voted
upon the adoption rejection OF the constitution
They evidently did not whether IL became the
law to govern the knights or not, although the new
provisions. placing the most arbitrary powers in the
hands OF the General executive Board really ap-
pa!lng to those who have the future we'll being OF the
order at heart. The ambition OF the present chief
officers for unlimited power is seriously threatened in
the popular movement toward the formation OF
national trades assemblies and THE is the why
so much difficulty Is experienced by the shvemakers,
iron workers. etc, In obtaining national charters even
after all the requirements of the constitution
piled with. Under the new constitution, however,
which General Secretary Litchman announces has
been passed by twotbirds yOta the General
Executive Board refuse at viii to grant national
charters, even after the assemblies desiring il have
gone through all the techncales prescribed by la